Vegetable topper



Patented Feb. 4, 1947 UNITED STATES OF FIiCE VEGETABLE TOPPER William E. Tenbrook, Glenwood' Springs; (Solo.

ApplicationlAugust 4, 1943, Serial No.,497,,3,58

Claims;

invention relatesgenerally to cutting deice and pertains. pa ticularly to a ter designed for use in grocery stores and vegetable markets for cutting vegetables and mor par- 1iszicularly for cutting off or removing vegetable OPS.

'Ijhe present invention constitutes an improvement upon my prior Patent No. 2,322,905.

In grocery stores and vegetable marketsgenxr e m o i of customers sire. to have the tops ofsuch vegetables as beets, turnips, carrots, onionsand the like removed before taking the same and' the present practice in a. majority ofstores is to twist oh the tops with the result that the groccrs hands become messy and: the general results are anything but satisfactory. The present invention hasfpr its object t' provide a; very simple type of; device by means of which such tops can be easily and quickly cut oil from the body of the vegetables.

Another object of' the invention isto provide a vegetable top cutter having an oscillating knife, wherein a novel means is provided for elfecting the oscillation of the knife and at the same time for protecting the user against injury.

A still further objector" the invention is to provide avegetable top cutting; device having an oscillating knife and an oscillating knife guard; with-means for swinging or oscillating the guard to efiect the movement of the knife; the guard acting to receive the knife as the latter moves, so that the operator will not be subjected or exposed to the danger of-having the knife; strike his hand during the cutting; operation.

Still another objept o f the invention is to provide a vegetabletop cutting device of the character stated, in which the. oscillating knife and guard are operatively coupled by a novel linkage to effect the movement of the knife into the guard, as above stated, and inwhich a meansis provided for returning theiknife. and guard to their initial or starting positions wherein they coact to -form a receiver in which the vegetable- Figure 2 is. an end elevational view taken. at. right angles to the device as shown inlEigure 1.

Eigure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 33. oflii l re 1.

Referring now more. particularly to the drawing, the numeral I" designates a plate or body which may be mounted upon a wall or in. any other suitable manner and upon which is secured the several part'sof the cutter device.

Attached to. the face of'the body I' is a plate 2 having a longitudinal? forwardly extending, flange 3. This plate is secured vertically as i1- lustrat'ed.

Pivotally attached; as at 4; to thefiange 3ad"- jacent its lower end is the free end ofthe' in;- wardly curved lower' portion" 5 ofla knife guard indicated generally-by the numeral 6, This-guard is made to have the two spaced parallellside portions 1 connected togetherat their upper ends,.

as indicated'at 8, and shaped at their lowerends to form the inwardly curved-portions 5 previously referred'to, and the free ends of these inwardly curved portions may be attached to' the flange .s by having the flange: interposed between them; so that the pivot member 4 will pas -througlr the two portionsand' the flange; as is clearly shown in Figure 3.

As shown; the major portion of the'len'gth' of the guard 6'is' straight and'the guard normally extends-outwardlyandupwardly withrespect to the flange 3towhich'itis attached, the upper end of the guardbeing spaced a-substantia1-dis-- tance from the fiange'tq receive the'vegetable tops; The upperend portion of-the-guard may be supplied with a handle 9 or othersuitable means to facilitate grasping the g uard and oscillating it"forwardly=anddownwardly" when necessary.

Ata, suitable point abovethe pivot 4 of the guard isalink pivot l0 which parallels the pivot land to which is attached one ora'pair of links ll. these extend downwardly in parallel relation across the: curved lower portion 5 of the guard and are connected at-their outer or free ends by aapivot-l 2.

The numeral I 3 generally'designates ai knife which has a shank portion 14 which is disposed between the ourvedlower end: portions 5- of the two side -parts-:|i of the guard; At the inner end of-the shank a pivot pin extends through the two portionsmf the guard and through the-knife; as indicated at l5, while the lower or free end of the shank H, which is located between the lower ends of the links H, is attached to the pivot l2.

A pair of such links ishereillustratedand" The portion of the knife adjacent the shank through which the pivot pin l passes is provided with a slot IE to allow for turning and longitudinal movement of the knife as the guard i pulled outwardly away from the flange 3. It will be readilyseen that with the arrangement illustrated and described, when the guard 6 is pulled outwardly and downwardly, an outward and downward pull will be applied to the shank end of the knife and cause the knife to oscillate on the pivot 12 so that the cutting edge I! thereof,

which faces outwardly, will move toward the guard and into the space between the side portions of the guard.

The normal or inoperative positiono'f the guard elongated member adjacent its curved end,

6 is substantially upright, as shown in Figure 1, v

and the normal or inoperative position of the knife is extending upwardly and inwardly from the lower part of the guard toward the body I. There is thus provided substantially V-shaped space into which the heads or tops of the vegetables can be placed.

These parts are maintained, when the machine is not in use, in the .normalor inoperativepositions described, by a spring I8 which has one end fixed to the flange 3 or in any other suitable manner, at a substantial point above the pivot III, while the other end of the spring is attached to the guard; or to the pivot at 15. Thus, when the guard is oscillated outwardly and downwardly, the spring will be placed under tension at the same time-that the knife is performing the desired cutting operation and when the guard is released, the spring will return the parts to their original positions in readiness for the introduction of another bunch of tops or other articles to be cut.

. From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that in the device herein disclosed the operator isnot required to touch the knife at all and consequently the danger of being cut in moving the knife i materially reduced. Also the knife as it moves forward has its cutting edge covered so that there is no danger of the operator putting hishand against such edge or bringing any part of his body in contact therewith.

If desired, in order to further insure the stopping of the knife after the cutting edge has entered the guard, the upper portion of the guard may be provided with a cross-stop I!) which will extend across the edge of the knife after it has entered the guard and thus prevent the knife edge from passing entirely through the guard.

What is claimed is: I V V l. A vegetable topper of the character described, comprising a relatively long knife and a relatively long knife actuating member having acrossed relation adjacent to one end, a sliding pivot coupling between the knife and actuating member at the crossed portions thereof whereby the knife and member have relative scissor-like movement, a support, means pivotally connecting the actuating member, at the end adjacent toits pivotal connection With the knife, with the support, and a link extending across the actuating member between the pivot coupling and the said pivotal connection and positioned between; the knife, adjacent to its pivoted end, and said pivotal connection and pivotally coupled between the knife and the support and functioning to effect the swinging of the knife away from the support whereby the knife and elongated member normally form a V, and a link connection between the knife shank and said support at a point above ,the pivot for the elongated member.

3. A structure as set forth in claim 2, in which said elongated member comprises two spaced parallel portions between which the pivoted end of the knife extends, whereby the elongated member forms a guardto receive the cutting .edge of the knife, and means carried by the. elongated member for facilitating it oscillation.

'4. A structure as set forth in claim 2, including a spring connection between the lower part of the elongated member and the support therefor, whereby the elongated member is constantly urged to swing upwardly and inwardlytoward the support.

5- A vegetable topping device comprising a support, a relatively long member pivotally attached at one end to the support, a relatively long knife having a longitudinally extending shank at one end and having the shank end in umber V I crossed relation'with said member, adjacentto the pivoted end of the member, said knife having an obliquely directed slot therein in the part thereof which lies across the memben'a pin carried by said member and engaging in said slot, a link extending across the member between the pivoted end of the member and saidpin, a pivotal connection between an end of the link and the support, and a pivotalconnection between the other end of the link and the knife shank upon the side of said member remote from theendof the link which is pivoted to the support, the axes of the saidpivotal connections for the ends of the link and the pivotal connectionsbetween the member and the support being substantially parallel, and said support comprising an actuating means for the knife and functioning when swung away from the support to effect the swinging of the knife away from the support and into cutting relation with the said member. 7 I WILLIAM E. TENBROOK.

RE ER NCES .CITED The followingreferences are of record in the file of this patent:

" :UNTIED'STATESQPATENTSM Date 233,121 Spring Oct. 21, 1880 579,884 Mallard Mar. 30, 1897 2,3 2,905; Tenbrook June 29,1943 1,350,752": Scranton Nov. 23,1920 270,233 Lynes" Jan; 9, 1883 892,114 1 Anderson June 30," 1908 1,269,761; Van Brunt June 18, 1918 1,221,300

Ersnes Apr. 3, 1917 

